4.28.22 How would you talk about math, if the answer weren’t the focus? This year, I tried something revolutionary in my middle school math class: I took away their pencils, rearranged their chairs in a circle, and had a conversation. About math. I didn’t invent... Read more
4.26.22 10 ways for teachers and parents to communicate better about assessments For many educators, the end of the school year is near, which includes navigating how to communicate a lot of information with parents and other caregivers. High school teachers are in the midst... Read more
4.22.22 What’s happening with data and assessment in teacher prep programs? We asked an expert As the director of policy and advocacy at NWEA, and a former teacher, I love engaging in meaningful conversations about how to improve public education, particularly around the use of data and... Read more
4.21.22 Make it memorable: 6 ways the pandemic changed my teaching Most teachers would agree that teaching over the last two years has been challenging. That may even be an understatement. We navigated uncharted waters and pushed ourselves to accomplish the... Read more
4.19.22 Decisions, data, and doing the science of reading The science of reading is the converging evidence of what matters and what works in early literacy instruction. In previous posts, I’ve recapped what the evidence says about effectively supporting... Read more
4.14.22 Leading up to MAP Growth: 20 tips for families MAP® Growth™ is an interim assessment given to K–12 students that provides data to help teachers teach, students learn, and administrators lead. As testing day nears, teachers help their... Read more
4.12.22 A tale of two English classes: What teaching taught me about school leadership A few years ago, our NWEA executive team retreat was held at a resort near Oregon’s Mt. Hood. One morning I was walking through the parking lot to the conference building nestled in the mountain... Read more
4.8.22 Let’s talk about summer: Some student groups lose more ground when school is out Spring may have just arrived in many parts of the country, but now is the time to start thinking about summer and how it can be leveraged to support students and close opportunity gaps. Summer has... Read more
4.7.22 These 5 principles can help you empower students with learning paths You don’t know what you don’t know. Isn’t that the truth! When I first began teaching, I knew how to make large, challenging learning goals (such as content standards) and purposes clear... Read more
4.5.22 How data can inform and supercharge your reading instruction strategies There’s a good reason we put books in front of young children so early and often. We’re eager for kids to begin perceiving those mysterious shapes on the page as meaningful letters and words,... Read more
3.31.22 Swapping my teacher hat for my parent hat: What it was like to see my child’s MAP Growth score for the first time I’ve been a lover of MAP® Growth™ ever since my district first started using it about 10 years ago. Here was a test that finally measured my students’ progress over time rather than focusing... Read more
3.29.22 Supporting fluency and comprehension using practices grounded in the science of reading Who says the science of reading is only for reading teachers? Not me, that’s for sure. When it comes to supporting reading fluency and comprehension, there’s a lot that teachers of content like... Read more